Walking Dead Producer Gale Anne Hurd and director/producer Valerie Red-Horse have launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund an upcoming documentary about Wilma Mankiller, who became the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1985.

The film, entitled Mankiller, will be partially financed through a 30-day campaign on the crowd funding platform which began today. The film has already received half of its funding from Vision Maker Media for PBS, and Red-Horse has already shot 20 hours of interviews. The goal of the Kickstarter campaign is to raise the $150,000 needed to complete production and post-production of the documentary.

Hurd, who has also produced films like Terminator and Aliens, chose Kickstarter as a way to establish an early connection with a potential audience. "Kickstarter is not only a fundraising site, it's a community of supporters who care about powerful stories that need to be told," she explained by e-mail. "Documentaries enable us to look beyond the sound bite and involving such a committed group from the very beginning is vital to the continued success of the medium."

Hurd had previously produced two documentaries--True Whisperers and Navajo Code Talkers-- focused on the Native American experience, both directed and co-produced by Red-Horse.

During an unprecedented three terms in office, Wilma Mankiller led the Cherokee Nation during a period of growth and adversity. During her ttenure, the Cherokee Nation saw its population of registered citizens nearly double, from 68,000 to 170,000, but Mankiller, who passed away in 2010, also endured lingering sexism as the group's leader. Her efforts were acknowledged in 1998 when President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In addition to more conventional donor premiums like DVDs signed by Red-Horse, the campaign includes a variety of items from Hurd's projects, ranging from a Walking Dead script signed by Scott Gimple for a $100 donation to a ticket to the Season 6 premiere of The Walking Dead for $10,000.

More information about the project can be found at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/valhallaent/mankiller